What Is Planned Obsolescence

What is planned obsolescence and what is its effect on the value proposition?

What is planned obsolescence, what is the value proposition, what effect does one have on the other, and where does the consumer draw the line? Planned obsolescence is a very large part of the consumer’s daily life, from every flip of the light switch, to every call you make on your cellphone. Your milk is not the only thing with an expiration date these days. You may not know this, but the manufacturing companies do!

What is planned obsolescence also known as “built-in obsolescence? The best way to describe it is by definition—planned obsolescence is when a manufacturing decision is made by a company to make a consumer product using inferior parts so that it becomes out-of-date (obsolete) or breaks down within a shorter period of time than it would have if they had used high-quality parts. That way the consumer has to buy the product, or its upgrade, sooner. Then there is value proposition, which is a promise from the company and the belief of the consumer that the value delivered will be experienced, essentially “you get what you pay for.”

If you buy an expensive product, you expect it to last long than a cheaper product. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case. It is hard to say whether the effect planned obsolescence has on the value proposition is good or bad. It is all about how the consumer feels. If the consumer feels they are not getting the most out of a product for the amount of money they spent, they are going to feel cheated and ripped-off. However, think of this—a cellphone or computer manufacturer may decide to use parts that have a maximum lifespan of five to eight years, when they could use parts that would last up to 20 years. But let’s face it, who keeps a cellphone or computer more than eight years? By using cheaper parts, the company can lower their manufacturing costs, and then the consumer can buy the product at a lower price. When it comes to...

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...Tiffany M. Rodgers
Philosophy
4.26.2012
Doomed Design
Although the revolutionary system of plannedobsolescence is meant to stimulate demand and sales, its wasteful modern-day results damage the intellectual progress of the society by misleading consumers, manipulating the population’s view of real modern advancements and the reality of the production process, allowing industrial designers to become progressively unproductive and uneconomical. Plannedobsolescence, present in industrial design, is a policy of deliberately planning and manufacturing a product with a limited useful life so that after a certain period of time or wear it becomes obsolete or nonfunctional. Plannedobsolescence is applied globally in every area of design and production. It is a tool used by companies to meet objectives and increase profit. Deriving from an economy depressed America, plannedobsolescence has undoubtedly become the traditional norm of society.
Over the course of the twentieth century plannedobsolescence has become an essential factor of production. Industrial design as a profession began in America during the 1930s which became possible as a result of applied styling and plannedobsolescence. Associated originally with advertising and the development of consumer culture in America, the movement’s...

...Plannedobsolescence is the industrial tactic of designing, manufacturing, and distributing a product with an inadequate lifespan, as so it will become obsolete specifically to force the consumers to buy the latest generation of said product. These products are put into practice before the next generation is even fully functional; companies like Apple are most famous for doing this. Plannedobsolescence has been in use since the beginning of the Great Depression and for the past eighty years the ethical grounds of companies and the reliability of their products has been argued.
As 20th century economist Victor Lebow says in his article on consumer capitalism, Price Competition in 1955:
Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfactions, our ego satisfactions, in consumption… We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced, and discarded at an ever increasing pace. (Lebow, Price Competition in 1955)
Plannedobsolescence goes hand and hand with conspicuous consumption, the act of spending money to acquire luxury goods and services in order to publicly exhibit ones economic power. The 1950s was a time of immense consumption of household goods and services. Tupperware and kitchen appliances were products of vast majority that persistently improved...

...PlannedObsolescencePlannedobsolescence or built-in obsolescence in industrial design is a policy of planning or designing a product with a limited useful life, so it will become obsolete, that is, unfashionable or no longer functional after a certain period of time. From about 1924, it started to sneak into people's life and quite literally changed people’s lives.
People have been talking about whether plannedobsolescence is good for their lives or not through the ages. All they focus on are the cost to posterity and the necessity of plannedobsolescence. So, I will analyse these problems in the following ways.
From the point of economy, it is a clever way for merchants to seek more benefits. They make products constantly updated and reduce the service life of parts. However, this practice increases the economical burden on buyers at the same time.
From the point of technology, plannedobsolescence promotes technological innovation and leads people enter the era of technology. On the other hand, the manufacturers who are driven by interests will reduce the technical content of the products and deceive consumers.
From the point of society, plannedobsolescence brings more colorful lifestyles to people and gives people more opportunities of enjoyment. Nonetheless, there can also be...

...the product life and durability is concerned. However, the economy is rely on the consumptions. The world economy is developing rapidly especially in some country. Inevitably companies want to enlarge this trend by implement certain strategy.
Plannedobsolescence is a business strategy in which the obsolescence of a product is planned and built into it from its conception. Those kind of products are designed to be unfashion or no longer usable in a time. In future the consumer feels a need to purchase new products and services that the manufacturer brings out as replacements for the old ones. It may not be seen as ethical by everyone, and it is not illegal. (Wise Geek.com)
“The driving force for obsolescence is more often fashion than function” (Alyssa Chan, THurj.org), by this point, the fashion and garment industry is the biggest fan of plannedobsolescence practice that I can think of. A classic case in this industry was the nylon stocking. The inevitable “laddering” of stockings made consumers buy new ones and for years discouraged manufacturers from looking for a fabric that did not ladder. The garment industry in any case is not likely improve such thing. The word fashion by definition is clearly deeply has built-in obsolescence. Last year's skirts, for example, are designed to be replaced by this year's new models.
Because of the globalization, many...

...you wonder why your TV is broken after 2 years? This phenomenon is called plannedobsolescence. It’s based in 1881 with the first bulb built from Eddison. His first bulb had a lifetime
about 2500 hours. After the manufacturing process begin the lifetime sunks to 1000 hours.
This is a strategy by the big concerns all over the world. They designed their products with flows.
Types of obsolescence are technical or functional, systematic programmed, style or notification.
Technical or functional obsolescence are most in sunglasses or ear protectors. The producer takes
here cheap plastic which brakes very easy. Systematic and programmed obsolescence are software in
every electronically product. After duration about 2 years you cannot use old software because the old
software isn’t compatible anymore. For example, try to install a windows xp game on a windows 7
platform. In the most cases it doesn’t work and the consumer must update his software.
After all the economy has a big profit on plannedobsolescence. Just imagine a TV lifetime would be
over 10 years, which means low profit ranges for the producer’s and so on low economy and slow
innovations. About this situation plannedobsolescence promotes the economy, because the lifecycle
of products are lower and the sales rates higher. Ultimately jobs are created and consuming is the
best way...

...1) How do organizations cope with/postpone prospered obsolescence of managerial personnel.
How do organizations cope with/postpone prospered obsolescence of managerial personnel. Discuss the role of leadership in the process. Explain with an example from an organization known to you. Please describe the organization briefly
Obsolescence of managerial personnel is a situation where managers cannot keep up with the latest technology or are not as well-qualified as more junior staff
Postponement obsolescence
Postponement obsolescence refers to a situation where technological improvements are not introduced to a product, even though they could be. One possible example is when an auto manufacturer develops a new feature for its line of cars, but chooses not to implement that feature in the production of the least expensive car in its product line.
Technical obsolescence
Technical obsolescence may occur when a new product or technology supersedes the old, and it becomes preferred to utilize the new technology in place of the old. Historical examples of superseding technologies causing obsolescence include higher-quality multimedia DVD over videocassette recorder and the telephone, with audio transmission, over the telegraph's coded electrical signals. On a smaller scale, particular products may become obsolete due to replacement by a newer version of the...

...WHAT THE H2!?
09-10-13
This is journal entry #20 10:30 AM 8/10/2050: The riots are still raging in the streets and gas prices are $200 a gallon. It has been 15 days since we have been told that there is no more fossil fuels. Our civilization is at the tipping point; like I said there is violent riots in the streets the lights are not turning on and neither is the water. My mom tells me it’s like this because when she was a kid everyone abandoned the idea of “clean energy” because they were told that scientists figured out how to clean up the pollution. No one thought of when we were going to run out fossil fuel and now we have. We need a new source of power, a clean and unlimited reserve of energy, hydrogen.
Hydrogen is a clean and unlimited resource. Hydrogen is a completely clean resource, when used in cars it’s only emission is water vapor and heat. Hydrogen is virtually unlimited when hydrogen runs out our universe will have ended ( most likely one hundred trillion years) 100,000,000,000,000 years from now.
Hydrogen is extremely efficient, it is 3 times more efficient than gasoline. You can get 480 miles a tank with the Toyota FCHV. From coral you can make it all the way to San Diego, CA and go another 156 mi on one tank.
Some argue that hydrogen is very flammable and can explode. Those that argue this are 100% correct but it is not any more flammable than the gasoline in your car right now.
Hydrogen is only $1.80 gallon and 3 times more...